Just finished this up with the guidance of your DIY. It went smoothly and took me 2 hours. It was my first time changing plugs and I was impressed with how well it went. I have to say that coil puller is a must have. That passenger plug closest to the cabin is a massive PITA, and took me close to 30 minutes on it's own. I have to say I feel like I can tell the difference. Thanks again for the DIY!! Next up in a month is the Manual Tranny Fluid. I've done Oil, and rear diff fluid, car has 71k on it (bought it with 68k), what else should I be looking at? Thanks again!

glad it went smoothly...

well since youve done the oil and rear diff fluid, i think after the tranny i would do the brake fluid, steering fluid and rad at 100k. i did all that at 70k miles and now i have 78k ...

FYI: with the tranny though.. BMW uses a special tool to remove the oil from the cooler but since we are DIY... we will never get some of the oil out. so

while your draining the oil, jack each side for 3-5 minutes of the car to drain all the remaining fluid... it will not drain all but at least you will get out most of the old oil...

so after putting the new oil run the car for 2-3 minutes then drive it around the block DO NOT EXCEED 3k rpm and open the fill oil and refill until it overfill. make sure that the car is level.... if your using a jack you need to jack the car on the driver side and fill the tranny with oil and leave the fill bolt open and slow lower the car very slowly cause it will drip some of the excess oil...

Personally I find a flat head screw driver much easier to pop out the coils, especially the most rear ones. You just put it under the coil head or even the rubber thing itself and lever it off something nearby and pop it up.

I can now change all my plugs in 30 minutes once the airbox is out. I change every 7500

Personally I find a flat head screw driver much easier to pop out the coils, especially the most rear ones. You just put it under the coil head or even the rubber thing itself and lever it off something nearby and pop it up.

I can now change all my plugs in 30 minutes once the airbox is out. I change every 7500

well since youve done the oil and rear diff fluid, i think after the tranny i would do the brake fluid, steering fluid and rad at 100k. i did all that at 70k miles and now i have 78k ...

FYI: with the tranny though.. BMW uses a special tool to remove the oil from the cooler but since we are DIY... we will never get some of the oil out. so

while your draining the oil, jack each side for 3-5 minutes of the car to drain all the remaining fluid... it will not drain all but at least you will get out most of the old oil...

so after putting the new oil run the car for 2-3 minutes then drive it around the block DO NOT EXCEED 3k rpm and open the fill oil and refill until it overfill. make sure that the car is level.... if your using a jack you need to jack the car on the driver side and fill the tranny with oil and leave the fill bolt open and slow lower the car very slowly cause it will drip some of the excess oil...

after its level jack the car up slowly put the plug back in...

PM me if you have any questions.

Thanks for the input. I will work on getting the remainder of the fluids swapped out. If I have any questions, I will shoot you a message. Thanks again!

Actually on this car you would be surprised. I logged data, specifically ignition timing targets and consistently at about 7500 miles of driving my ability to hit the maximum timing targets is off and generally is 1 to 2 degrees shy of maximum. The car relies on the plugs to read knock and pull timing. Dirty plugs at all interfere with this process and leads to timing being pulled much more easily.

On a car without ion sensing knock systems I agree but unfortunately our plugs are not just responsible for the spark and ignition which I agree is premature to replace at that mileage but the plugs act as the sensor, and specifically the electrodes which is the first thing to really get dirty.

I just like getting the maximum out of my engine at all times even if it is only 10 hp more.

Just so everybody knows I have been informed by the forum mods that I am no longer allowed to sell the pullers through the forums. They consider it to be commercial sales because I am selling multiples of the same items. I respect their decision, and won't fight it even though I make barely any money on these and did it mostly as a service to members while trying to avoid the dreaded BMW tax. It was a simple solution to a vexing problem, but I am afraid it is no more.

I did inquire as to the rates for advertising (which may of been the overall downfall) but the rates currently far outstrip any profits I would make during the course of selling these parts so I will not be trying to do that either for now.

Be assured anybody who has submitted money already the pullers have shipped already. Expect them in the next few days.

Thanks everybody for the kind words over the time of making this!

Division M will return!!

Cheers,

TxStig

Can you kindly Pm me if you still have any coil pullers left. Would like to buy one for sure! Thanks.

Note - I went out of warranty Oct 24th at 42,000 miles and tried to have the dealer change the plugs and they wouldn't until 44,000 miles as stated by the CBS system.
The key to the verbiage on page one is if the car doesn't have CBS which he said all M3's have they cannot do it until CBS says so.

Since I'm not going to give the dealer $250 and indy shop $450 I'll be doing the DIY this weekend.

Note - I went out of warranty Oct 24th at 42,000 miles and tried to have the dealer change the plugs and they wouldn't until 44,000 miles as stated by the CBS system.
The key to the verbiage on page one is if the car doesn't have CBS which he said all M3's have they cannot do it until CBS says so.

Since I'm not going to give the dealer $250 and indy shop $450 I'll be doing the DIY this weekend.

The m3 book says that the spark plug change is every 37,000 miles and it is not shown on the CBS.

The m3 book says that the spark plug change is every 37,000 miles and it is not shown on the CBS.

Did your car showed it in the CBS, you saw it?

It's a change at 37k unless CBS tells them something different. CBS told them to do my car between 42-44k. They said every new BMW except early X3s has CBS so I'm guessing some dealers just bend the rules a little if people are getting plugs at 37k regardless of what CBS is telling them

Just finished this diy and thanks to the OP! My car has 42k, bought used, I suspected plugs had never been changed and turns out I was correct. All plugs were in bad shape especially one from cylinder 4.

As for the diy itself, I had to default to the hanger-method particularly for plugs 3,4,7 and 8. I had the deep spark plug socket but wouldn't recommend it - for plugs 4 and 8 you have to release the deep socket first otherwise it won't come out with the plug attached.

Just finished this DIY at 42k.first plug change.thanks op for your inputs.

Heres some tips for those still apprehensive bout doing this.

1) if you don't have the puller tool,I used an old power cord and wrapped around then base of the coil,right below the connector.then just pull about 45 deg outwards. The coil will spin around and pop out. It was waaaaaay easier than I expected especially after reading about what a pita it was to do.

2) no torque wrench? The quarter turn past tight rule of thumb is pretty close. Kinda estimate the amount u needed to loosen the old plugs.

3) the plug on the passenger side nearest to the firewall needs to be threaded under the piping that's in the way. Just pull the piping gently to the right and bring the coil under it

Thats it! Real easy DIY and I really do feel the difference. Even my exhaust note sounds richer. It could all be in my head tho after working on the car, naturally the mind is looking for dividends.